8. Recognizing Relatives

(April 16, 2010) Robert Sapolsky discusses various methods of innate recognition of relatives between animals and humans through protein signatures, olfactory cellular mechanisms, cognitive, and sensory processes. He explores the importance of relatedness in animal mating/ovulation cycles and other phenomena that show how organisms identify each other.

Stanford University
http://www.stanford.edu

Stanford Department of Biology
http://biology.stanford.edu/

Stanford University Channel on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/stanford

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Science
• Interdisciplinary
• Bioengineering
• Genetic
• Sociobiology
• Darwin
• Evolution
• Sexual
• Species
• Natural Selection
• Recognition
• Relatedness
• Animal
• Organism
• Relative
• Genetically Based Traits
• Environment
• Heritability
• Reproduce
• Reproduction

[flybybutterflies]

Professor Sapolsky is so cool!!!

[iurak6868]

amazing talk :)

[Tamizushi]

Fascinating!

[SCORPIO99991]

BEST PROFESSOR SO CALM ,HIS WAY OF SPEAKING HAS A BALMING EFFECT

[PoledniceWP]

Wooo English grads! What a mistake I made.

[mgalosi]

I started to google this Chutes and Ladders study while he was talking. I feel like a fool.

[Joobalooboo]

What a beard! I'm jealous. Can't wait till I get old enough to grow one...

[fudgesauce]

About 21:15 into it, when the camera monkey pans the audience, it looks like an ad for apple inc.

[makemeupplez]

@freethinkerer i was happy w/ this vid till iread this.... lol : [

[troubledwatersofmind]

He changed his shirt!

[freethinkerer]

Am I the only one who is annoyed by the guy clicking his pen the whole time?

It has ruined the whole thing for me. If he sat next to me in class, I would probably stab him in the neck with his pen. My cortisone levels are at a dangerous level.

[ninjatoothpaste]

@unseenstrings That's a very clear explanation and a point well made I think! In particular I liked your reference to Alliance Theory as I had never heard of that before, I'd thought of it but had no idea it was an actual theory. I'd imagine brothers and sisters who'd been separated would be much more likely to mate than unrelated siblings who'd grown up together - I'd say the selection is more for "group adherence behaviour" which gives rise to incest taboo rather than inbuilt repulsion.